Not enough cooks in Whistler kitchens

Chamber, employers meet with federal minister of human
resources

And it would be great if the Temporary Foreign Worker Program
was extended to employees from the U.K., New Zealand, South Africa, Korea and
Japan.

Those were just a couple of the issues raised with Monte
Solberg, Minister of Human Resources and Social Development and Member of
Parliament for Medicine Hat, at a recent Whistler meeting.

At the table were the Whistler Chamber of Commerce, the
Fairmont Chateau Whistler, the Four Seasons and Whistler-Blackcomb — some of
the biggest employers in the resort.

“We do get the sense that the minister understands the issues
and takes it very seriously,” said chamber president Louise Lundy.

“He follows up with us and does address our concerns and
appears to be wanting to make a difference.”

Lundy said employers looking for workers in the culinary field
have been hitting a roadblock because government is telling them that there are
lots of chefs on the unemployment list. Foreign workers won’t be brought if
there are Canadians to do the job.

Lundy said Solberg was somewhat surprised to hear this and
committed to investigating it.

Under a new pilot project running in several places, including
Whistler, employers can try and fast track getting foreign workers into Canada.
The program is known as the Expedited Labour Market Opinion Project.

Lundy said Whistler is trying to push for chefs to be added to
the list of categories.

The Four Season Hotel was the first hotel in B.C. to get on
board with the E-LMO process.

“We are committed to making it work,” said General manager
Scott Taber, adding that it has not been without some challenges.

At the meeting he explained to Solberg that a piece of
documentation that was part of the application process was causing headaches
and holding up the whole process.

Generally though, said Taber: “I felt intensity about this from
him, and empathy.”

Solberg, reached in Ottawa, said labour shortages are at the
top of his list of priorities.

“I think this is one of the most important issues facing the
country today economically,” he said.

“It is extraordinarily important and in the long run I think it
is our biggest economic challenge.”

He described the meetings with Whistler representatives as
“very helpful” adding that he would be looking into the issues raised.

“They made a compelling argument that more needed to be done to
address the problem of not enough chefs,” said Solberg. “So we have been in
discussion with our department about it…
On the one hand Canadian workers always get the first crack at these
jobs, but where there just aren’t enough we have a system that works
effectively and we can address labour market needs as quickly as possible.

“Right now we are just gathering data and getting the right
facts and then we will figure out where we will go from there, but we sure are
alive to some of the concerns… raised.

“Whistler will be home to (the 2010 Winter Olympic and
Paralympic Games) and we want to make sure that there are enough workers to
accommodate the thousands and thousands of people who will be coming to
Whistler for the Olympics.”

Solberg pointed to several initiatives the government is
working on to help with labour shortages including funding transfers to the
province to bring people back into the workforce with training, the
apprenticeship incentive grant program, financial assistant to help students
from low and middle income families go to post secondary institutions, and an
initiative for older workers.

“All of those things combined will go some distance toward
addressing some of these concerns,” said Solberg.

“But we also need more immigrants and the temporary foreign
worker program.

“In the past few years the size of the temporary foreign worker
program has tripled and so I think we have responded. We are bringing in far
more temporary workers than previous government did because we get it.”

That’s good news to Lundy, who hopes to continue meeting face
to face with the minister.

“We are not just sitting here with our hands open saying to the
government fix our problem,” she said.

“We are doing a lot of things and it starts with housing
initiatives, the whole Spirit Program, trying to do things to attract workers
ourselves, and trying to work with employers on how to retain people through
recognition.

“… We are not just looking to them and saying help us. But
there are barriers that are in the way of our success and we need them to help
us get through.”